Monthly Archives: October 2013

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October 21, 2013

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Filmmaking

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Chicago Filmmakers Get Busy

Master SceneThe 49th Annual International Film Festival (Oct. 10-24) is in full swing. Yesterday was the Chicago Film and Media Summit & Expo at the Cultural Center. Tonight is the Chicago Showbiz Networking gathering at Chicago’s Laugh Factory. And, there are several other gatherings this month by multiple Chicago film organizations.

October seems to be the key month when Chicago filmmakers find a new mix of talent and spin great creative projects. Some get fleshed out and produced, while others find no traction. In either case, networking opportunities rise to a new high as well.

Last Friday night, I met with a group of up coming actors who have a great idea for a television series. After reviewing their first draft script, we made alterations to the story structure that would make it ideal for HBO. The energy in the room from all the creative input was tremendous.

I’m not sure if all these networking opportunities play a role in the process, but several film grants are made available in October for Chicago filmmakers. This year one organization has increased their grants to $100,000 with the hope of seeing more films made.

Many times the grants will cover equipment costs. Typically the actors, crew and filmmakers will donate their time to leverage the project for greater visibility with gaining full funding from investors or a studio’s attention. There are also small film projects that are sometimes funded in full by the grants.

Some years back, I won a grant for a documentary that I produced on female barbershop quartets. The grant provided a lot of equipment and film stock, but at the time I was in need of finishing funds. The timing was off due to the quartet’s competitive schedule. They participated in the national competition that took place in the EnergySolution arena – Home of the Utah Jazz.

The timing of networking, festivals and grant applications never perfectly match any green lit film project. Seldom do you sign your entire ideal list of actors, crew and locations. There are few people locked to each project that can determine the timing of the shoot. Most have to find a way to adapt if they want to participate in the project.

November and December will soon follow – The two biggest months for attracting investors due to their need for tax write offs. These last two months will also see several single days of shooting for many companies, as they try to grandfather in their tax incentive program for carry over in 2014.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers
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October 14, 2013

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Behind the Scenes

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Quest #003 – Lunch with Don Furr

Don_FurrQuest of the Nail Prints author, Don Furr, flew to Chicago last week to discuss the film and his second book Peter’s Quest. After discussing the differences between the original story and the movie version, we talked about the possibilities of combining efforts to restructure the sequel.

While this would tie the two storylines into one, versus maintaining parallel stories, it would require about a 50% rewrite for Don, who is on deadline for his sequel. There are several benefits that can surface if both storylines follow the same premise, but there are also a few negatives as well.

Creating the same storyline, allows for joint promotional dollars to expand the audience for both products, but the flip side would require Don to let go of a few creative ideas during a collaborative brainstorming session. This issue of letting go of one’s original work can be one of the most difficult things for an author to face.

Don’s storytelling abilities in the literary world have worked well for him, as he continues to receive unrequested endorsements from visible people and celebrities. However, Don has also caught on to the fact that film is a very different medium and he has loved most of the changes we’ve made in the screenplay.

A person reading both the book and the screenplay would recognize how much more visual the story became. Don’s book allows more exploration into the subtle nuances found in relationships, while the movie takes the audience on an exciting adventure of unexpected revelations.

The best part of the collaboration process is that Don and I hit it off well. We appreciated each other’s creativity and admired our shared ideas. I have no doubt that a great merging of the minds could take place for the sequel, but Don must first decide how much of his future plans he’s willing to alter to make the alignment possible.

This is not an issue of ego, as some might assume. It is all about how the two different media can tell the story. The greatest difference is that books can place the reader inside of the main character’s head, which is handled by a weaker process in film — A character thinking out loud or dialoging with another person .

On the other hand, film can quickly show subtle nuances that might take a book too long to explain, causing the pace of the story to waver. This delay might drop the reader out of the adventure. The key is figuring out what story to tell and what medium allows it to be told in the best possible way. And, what elements will work in both media.

The decision will be made within the next two weeks. In the meantime, we have plans to talk with a distributor in advance of production, and we will meet with a major retailer who wants to participate in a large promotional campaign for the DVD/Blu-Ray, book and soundtrack. This joint promotion will create 200,000,000 impressions – A very successful ad campaign. To help you with perspective, the average independent film generates 1,200,000 impressions.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers
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October 2, 2013

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Behind the Scenes

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“Working Title” #8 – The Grandfather Clause

ScoutingYesterday we finished the Cast Breakdown for the Casting Director. We’re very fortunate to have found a very talented person with lots of great connections to name actors. It looks like we’ll be able to attach 3 big names and 5 familiar faces to our show based on our new shoot dates of Aug. through Oct. in 2014.

There is only one hitch.

If you’re up on the latest in entertainment news, you’ve no doubt heard about the states that are dropping their tax incentives by the end of the year – Including the federal tax credit program. This will make a 30-33% difference for the investors.

Thankfully, one of our lawyers notified us about a legal loophole that will allow us to keep the incentives and tax breaks for our 2014 shoot. To meet this grandfather clause, we have to shoot one full day of principal photography in 2013. It can’t be second unit work, but actual production work.

The only scenes we can shoot this December will be our winter scenes, which take place on horseback in the snow-covered mountains. To facilitate this one-day shoot, so our investors can receive the 30-33% tax break, I’ll be flying to Spokane, Washington in November. This will give me an opportunity to talk with a family that owns a ranch, where my oldest daughter rode a horse last winter.

My youngest daughter and I also found a ranch in Colorado that might work as a back up site, but they normally close during the winter. The best part of location scouting for horse riding scenes is our ability to test ride the horses and see incredible scenery – One of the perks of filmmaking.

The bad news about shooting principal photography for one day this year is the additional costs incurred to pull the team together. Instead of spending $10-15M per hour as budgeted, we’ll be spending closer to $20-25M per hour. However, we’ll save the investors from paying taxes on $1.8MM or be able to sell those tax incentive credits to another company for $0.80 on the dollar – Making back in cash about 20% of our budget.

Regardless of how we take advantage of the benefits, it makes sense to spend $250M for a day in order to cash in on the Grandfather Clause and return $1.8MM to our bottom line. Oh, the cost of money.

One thing is certain, there will be a lot of production companies shooting for a day or more before this calendar year says goodbye to the tax credits. I’m thankful we have a team of experts looking out for us and giving us the latest concerning the entertainment and film incentive tax laws.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers
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